Relapse

My ODAD has struck again. Its was in remission for a while, but I've replased. I blame Rite Aid... and Huggies. They've been conspiring, I think. Clearancing out mega packs while $3 coupons are available? Definantly a conspiracy.

I don't want to admit how many diapers we have in the house. Lets just say, its alot. Lets just say, that by the time I run out of coupons we might not have to buy diapers again for the rest of the year. And I'm not exaggerating.

If you need diapers, find a Rite Aid near you. Price check the mega packs. All of them... Pampers, Huggies, Luvs... are apparently on clearance, but they may not marked. They should ring up at $8.99. Grab 3... Use this $5/$25 purchse coupon, and any brand coupons you may have. If you happen to like Huggies, use three $3 coupons from here (sort by "Household") and here (print each one twice from every computer you can get your hands on!) If you get 3 Huggies and use 3 of the coupons plus the $5 coupon, you'll pay $12.97 plus tax for 3 MEGA packs... thats only $4.32 per pack! I normally get excited seeing that price on Jumbo packs!

Okay... coupon TMI over.

Stocking up

So every once in a while, I have to share my shopping adventure and exploits. This one of those times.

My sister-in-law, Katie, taught me the ropes on how to shop ahead for your kids clothes. I've heard of it, I've wanted to do it before, but I've always been faced with the delima that my kids needs clothes for now... how am I suppoed to afford clothes for now and for next year?

This year, my kids are pretty well set for now. So I shopped for next year instead. At Old Navy I shopped their "Additional 50% off winter clearance" sale. Apparently it happens the mid-month January weekend every year. At Old Navy, I was able to get $519 worth of clothes for just $62. Apparently the real trick to this sale is to shop before hand (up to 2 weeks before) while selection is good, then go back with your receipt during the sale and get a price adjustment.

For Allison: 3 pairs jeans (one of them for right now), 2 pairs fleece pants, 1 pair black pants, 1 pair brown cords, 1 fleece half-zip sweater, 1 chunky white turtleneck sweater, 1 hooded pink sweater, 4 turtlenecks, 5 longsleeved t-shirts, 1 velour dress, 1 puffer vest, 3 skirts.

For Carter: 1 puffer coat, 1 shortsleeved t-shirt, 1 long sleeve polo, 1 sweater, 1 pair jeans, 1 paid khakis, 1 pair black cords, 1 set PJs

At JC Penney I shopped their 75% off year end clearance, which happens every January. Not all the prices were fabulous, but I was still able to get some good deals.

For Allison: 1 Sunday dress (for now... it was so cute!), 1 denim skirt, 3 longsleeved t-shirts, 1 half-zip fleece pullover, 3-in-1 systems coat, brown shoes, Ugg-style boots (these are actually from ON)

For Carter: 1 pair khakis, 1 longsleeved onesie, 1 longsleeved all-in-one outfit, 3 long sleeved shirts

The The Children's Place, it was the Monster Sale, but not until very near the end. I waited until this week and all clearance items (except winter coats) were marked down to $2.99. WOW!

For Carter: 1 zip-up hoodie, 1 fleece jacket, 3 longsleeved t-shirts, 2 sweaters, 3 pairs pants. I also got a pair of cords and a hooded cardigan sweater for Allison there too.

In total, I got nearly $1000 ($985) in new clothes for my kids for next year for just $175. That represents an 82% savings off the retail price. WOW!!!

Now, provided that my kids actually fit into my estimates of how big they'll be in 10 months (I'm mostly worried about Allison... I bought her 2T because I just can't image her being over 30 pound before the end of next winter), we should be all set for next year's winter clothes.

Oh, and lets just say I'm hooked, and I know how I'll be spendingmy kids' clothing budget from here on out. Can't wait for the summer version of those sales come July! =)

*Disclaimer: Yes... I do realize that I'm a complete and total nerd. =)*

Its time...

for another shopping post. Its been a good while since I've posted one, so today is the day. I'm super excited about the deals I got. Today I hit up Rite Aid and Target. Couponing in Washington is SO different than couponing in Utah. Its Saturday, the last day of the Rite Aid sale and several days into the deals at Target I was after and I was able to get almost everything I wanted. Things weren't completely wiped out on Monday... weird. Even stranger, I had absolutely zero trouble using my coupons. The cashiers scanned them all, no questions asked, no register beeps. Its was awesome.

Anyway, here's my Rite Aid take:

8 Herbal Essesnces Products
-4 Free (store BOGO promo)
-3 BOGO coupons (P&G insert)
-1 Free product coupon (fro a Facebook promo, no longer available)

=All 8 products for FREEEEEE!!!! I paid just $1.50 in tax for all 8 products. I love free.

In case your Rite Aid gives you trouble, this is totally allowed and is specifically addressed in the Rite Aid Corporate Coupon Policy. Print your own copy here and take it to the store with you, just in case your store isn't very well informed.

At Target I was able to get everything I wanted except Glade Holiday Scented Oil Candles. My Target had the tins, but not the pretty glass holders and no holiday refills. So I passed. The gift card deal on it (buy 5 holiday scented Glade products and get a free $5 gift card) goes through Christmas, so I'll just wait and try another day. The other Target near me had what I wanted when I was there on Monday, but they wouldn't take my coupons so I walked away. Next time I go I'll make sure I have my Target coupon policy with the Guest Relations phone number on it.

Anyway, here's my Target take today:

• 4 Tubs of Up & Up Baby Wipes - $0.57 each using $1 Up & Up Target coupon
• 2 Up & Up travel wipes - $0.47 each using the same Target coupon.
• 2 Kraft marshallows - $0.62 eash using $1/2 Target coupon
• 1 Santa Potato Head Spud Bud - $0.99 using $5 coupon at coupons.com
• Up! on BluRay/DVD combo pack - $9.96 using $10 coupon available from Disney

Total spent: $17.89, which is less than the sale price of the DVD. Pretty awesome. I love Target.

All Target coupons are available here.

I also got diapers at Walgreens earlier this week... no pictures, but I got 4 packs of diapers for $20 plus tax using $2 Huggies coupons from coupons.com, a $1 Huggies Walgreens coupon found in a children's coloring and activity book (they sell for 99 cents in the store) and the $5/$25 purchase Walgreens coupon.

Oh, and Mr. Potato Head... I got 2 of those at Fred Meyer. They were on sale BOGO, so I bought 2 and used 2 $2 off Mr. or Mrs. Potato Head product, so I got both of the for $3.50... Christmas for Allison. But I might return them for 2 of the Potato Head Silly Suitcases instead... we'll see.

Its been a good week for a good deal...

Super Savings Saturday

Wanna guess how much I got all this for?

$1.82.

No joke. I've been wanting Lucky Charms since they were part of the Albertson's promo that ended on Wednesday, but I always throw away the coupons for sugary cereal thinking that 1) we get SO much cereal on WIC and 2) I'll never use them since we're not big sugary cereal people. And on that note, I'm wrong. I mean who doesn't like Lucky Charms? I'll tell you who... my brother-in-law to be, David... but he's the only person I've EVER met that doesn't.

Anyway, how'd I get it all so cheap?

• used 5 coupons for a free glade 2 oz candle to get all the candles free
• used a $1 off Archer Farms bread Target coupon to get the bread for free
• customer service price matched the Lucky Charms to $1.68 (Macey's advertised price) and I used a $1 off Target coupon plus a $1 off 2 manufacturers coupon to get them for $0.18 a box.

Of the $1.82 I spent, $1.10 was tax.

I also went back to Target later and got them to mark down two about-to-pass-their-best-buy-date whole chickens to half price for me. I combined that mark down with a $1 Gold N Plump chicken on each one I bought to get two whole chickens for $3.12, including tax. Which reminds me... I need to roast those today. I really do hate dealing with bone in chicken, but I'm willing to deal with whole chickens. I just roast them in the oven, let them cool until I can handle them and pull all the meat off, toss it into ziptop bags and freeze or refridgerate for later use.

Back in the Couponing Saddle

I coupon, which if you've read my blog for more than a few months or been to my house and see the coupon stash, you know. Its pretty great. It saves lots of money and gives lots of wiggle room in our budget. But sometimes I don't want to. Sometimes it seems like its too much work for too little result, especially here in Utah County where tons of people coupon and the best deals are generally gone the first day of a sale, which can be so frustrating. I've felt pretty off lately. But tonight I got excited about how much I can save all over again.

I went to Albertsons to use my double coupons. My neighbor gave me hers (thanks, Julie!) so I had 6 sets of doublers to use (18 doublers total). Here is how I did:

• 8 Boxes Post Selects Cereal
• 4 pints Bryers Ice Cream
• 4 bottles Juicy Juice
• 4 pouches Bumblebee Tuna
• 4 packs Kraft String Cheese
• 2 "Family-sized" boxes Wheat Thins
• 1 box Ritz Crackers
• 1 box peanut butter Ritz Bits
• 2 tubs Philidelphia Cream Cheese
• 2 packs M&Ms (no coupon... potty training treats)
• 1 bag Orange Slices Candy (no coupon...potty training treats, but on clearance)
• 1 3-pack Wrigley's Gum
• 1 loaf Earth Grains bread
• 1 box Hefty One-Zip freezer bags
• 2 Liter bottle A&W Rootbeer (no coupon... potty training drink)
• 2.5 pounds 85% lean ground beef
• A "mega pack" of Albertson's brand training pants (not pictured)

Total spent out of pocket: $17.61, including tax!

Total Saved using sales & coupons: $137.07... thats an 88% savings!

I did this in 7 transactions using 18 doublers. I used $20 in catalina coupons ($15 earned last week and $5 earned in my first transaction today) and still have $6 in catalinas to use on my next shopping trip. It took 2 hours... but not bad "earnings" for 2 hours work, eh?

Oh, and here's the best part... I'm submitting my first transaction for a $20 rebate from Kraft. So technically, once I get that rebate, everything I bought today was free!

Learning to Coupon

My current career transition (from part-time teacher to full-time domestic engineer) has made me start thinking about ways to save more money and stretch our budget further. I decided that part of what I would do was learn to coupon... serious couponing where you get stuff super cheap or free. So, a few weeks ago I signed up for 3 copies of the Sunday paper and started reading lots of couponing blogs.

I've learned lots. Mostly I've learned that the way to get a ridiculous deal is to combine a good sale price with a store coupon and a manufacturer coupon. Also, when things are a good price, use all the coupons you have and stock up.

So, today, I made a Target run... they issue new store coupons (just a handful) every 2 weeks, which only makes me love them more! Anyway, here's what I bought and how I did:

*Please ignore the two lightblubs and the two bottles of Shout... those got returned. The lightblubs are the wrong ones (I have a raincheck for a specific type) and I didn't notice until I was out of the store and my one of my coupons for Shout was expired, which doesn't make it a good enough price, since I have adequate stock of it in the house right now.*

• 2 Desitin
• 2 Head-to-Toe Baby Wash
• 2 Johnsons Bubble Baths
• 1 Evenflo Nursing Pads
• 1 Johnson's Nursing Pads
• 2 Pledge Furnitue Wipes
• 6 boxes Market Pantry fruit snacks
• 2 Betty Crocker Warm Delights Minis
• 6 Suave Naturals Shampoo & Conditioner
• 2 Suave Professionals Shampoo & Conditioner
• 1 trial size baby lotion (for my purse... no coupon)
• 1 trial size "Hello Kitty" band-aid (Allison's $0.97 splurge, no coupon)
• 1 four-pack of travel size kleenex (for the diaper bag, no coupon)

My out of pocket total: $38.82. Amount saved with coupons: $26.70... thats a 40% savings... all this stuff SHOULD have cost me over $65! I had at least one coupon for every single thing I bought... with the three exceptions noted.

I think my best deal today was a toss up between the shampoo/conditioner and the fruit snacks. The fruit snacks were just $0.52 a box using a printable Target store coupon... you can find it here. The shampoo (the "Naturals" kind) I paid just $0.39 a bottle for... I had two manufacturer coupons for $1.75 off of any 3 Suave products. A steal, right?

I love a good deal. =) I think I'm going to track what I buy this month with our regualr budget money to see how much more I can get with the same amount of money... see if my $12 newspaper subscription is worth. it.

Nesting

I've been going a little crazy nesting lately. It's really kicked in pretty badly. I'm trying to be all ready and stocked for this new kid. I currently blame the state of my closet on nesting...

Yeah. If you want to know, that is over 550 diapers. Talk about stocking up. But there was a killer deal... combine the sale price on Huggies at Walgreens this week with a $5 manufacturer's coupon with an in-store instant rebate deal... it was kind of a steal for all those diapers. It doesn't seem crazy, until you understand the amount of time I spent in Walgreens and calling Walgreens this week trying to make sure I could get in on the deal (they, naturally, sold out of all Huggies diapers SO fast this week, so I was stalking their delivery truck, and at the store waiting for the diapers as they put them out on the shelves). Sadly, I'm pretty sure if I remember what newborns are like, 550 diapers will probably last us just about 2 months is all.

I think nesting is likely also to blame for he TWO lasagnes (one for dinner, one for the freezer) I made today (not that we can ever even finish one!).

I've also decided that I need and want to learn how to coupon effectively, for diapers if nothing else. I mean, I'm about to have twice as many children in diapers on half the income (okay... I get to keep receiving my paycheck through August, but I'm still freaking out about that whole situation). There just something about getting a steal of a deal that a rush. =)

By the way, for those looking for a deal on diaper, the $5 huggies coupon (along with a $3 one) can be found at coupons.com. You can print 2 from every computer you have access to. Probably the best place to use them now that the Walgreens deal is over is Walmart... my Walmart had the jumbo (small) packs for $9.72... with the $5 coupon you pay on $4.72 for the pack... thats just under 12 cents a diaper for size 3. Can you tell I'm a little obsessed with this? I think I need help...